DreamComeTruePhoto: Sashulya's selfie alteration processEnormous thanks to Sashulya for sharing this fascinating comparison

My dear friend Sashulya is asking an excellent question regarding editing photographs: how much is too much?

Sashulya is an expert when it comes to selfies.  Besides being naturally gorgeous, she manages to take absolutely the most flattering and charismatic selfies I've ever seen.  Recently, having some unexpected extra time during her morning commute, she set a really fascinating experiment: how far from reality can she really take the editing of her image, armed only with her trusty iphone?

Sashulya took a selfie and played with a makeup app, got her selfie through every golden ring of the beautifying process and and posed an excellent question: where do you draw the line?  Is it even still YOU in the image after all the attractive little corrections and add-ons?

Sashulen'ka, you are so right!! I fully edit every image that I present. I always say that I will get you looking your best, but still looking like yourself. Just the best version of yourself. And still, I ask that same question every night, editing photos. And every time I feel I am about to cross the line, really pushing it... people ask for more retouching! Then I feel they are pushing it. And then... I look at my own selfies. Ouch... Just like in one of my favorite stories: just a little less of the nose, a little more of the eyes. Area-wise - the same; but visually - what a difference!.. We see our loved ones in a golden fantasy light; we deceive ourselves that we see them and ourselves realistically. And... yes, we so want to see ourselves as unrealistic cover models! 

When it comes to our own images, we want those wrinkles, those years off worries gone; we want those under-eye nightmare, those sleepless nights witnesses - disappear; those double chins, those accomplices of a yummy indulgences - vanish...  We want to look young, charming, charismatic.

Dream Come True Photo - Beautiful senior girl headshot - natural, sweet, and loving. Marlboro NJ.Dream Come True Photo - Beautiful senior girl headshot - natural, sweet, and loving. Marlboro NJ.

Somehow, we don't feel that the drabby true-to-reality look shows the real us, how we really feel inside! And... it is not. Not real.

Honestly, even when we look at our loved ones, we don't notice all those unwanted wrinkles, bags, extra chins. So, which image really brings what is real about us?

Dream Come True Photo: beautiful portrait photographed in Holmdel NJ, headshot, looking gorgeous but still natural.Dream Come True Photo: beautiful portrait photographed in Holmdel NJ, headshot, looking gorgeous but still natural. It is really hard to capture what is real about every person. Obviously, the skin should have texture, not the plastic mannequin feel. Obviously, the face should retain its unique structure. Yet it is the expression, the magic twinkle in the eyes, the beloved dimple, the twist of the eyebrow, the laugh line in the corner of the mouth that defines whether the real, true, one and only trait that makes each of us unique comes shining through.
Dream Come True Photo - beautiful couple deeply in love. Preserving a moment for these two parents.Dream Come True Photo - beautiful couple deeply in love. Preserving a moment for these two parents.

What do you think?